On the next in-breath fill your body with radiant white light, on the out-breath feel it as a vast expansiveness within you. Do this for 3 breaths.

Breathe in feeling the expansiveness, and on the next out-breath extend the light from your being to encompass everyone with you in this meditation. Do this for 3 breaths.

Breathe in feeling the expansiveness, and on the next out-breath extend the light from your being to include your town, country and continent. Do this for 3 breaths.

Breathe in feeling the expansiveness, and on the next out-breath extend the light from your being to skip across oceans and space to encompass the planet earth and its biosphere. Take 3 breaths.

As you now breathe in, be aware that you are cradling the planet in your arms. As you breathe out smile from the light of your being to the planet earth. Do this as you breathe in and out for 10 breaths.

Now as you breath in and out think of your very favorite place on the planet - by a river in springtime, walking in autumn leaves, at the top of a mountain with clear views of surrounding peaks and valleys, or at the edge of a desert oasis. Whatever your favorite place on the earth is - just feel that you are there and feel such happiness, peace and joy. Breathe in the memory, and smile as you breathe out. Do this for 10 breaths.

Now with your mind and the light in your being send your feelings of happiness, peace and joy to the central core of the earth and feel that energy filling the entire planet and surrounding it with love. Know that you are one with Gaia. After 10 breaths slowly open your eyes and look around you and share your smile with your friends who are also smiling. This meditation can be done with nature based music playing softly in the background and takes about 25 minutes.

MEDITATION II: MEDITATION FOR PEACE ON EARTH:
March 23, 1998

When we focus our beings and minds on inner and world peace, we change our perceptions, thereby the world. We first have to still our own fears and take inner steps to calm ourselves and be clear. This is what meditation is for - to return ourselves to a place of inner freedom, to a place of the heart and from there we can be clear about our responses to world situations. In this manner we can create a world based on love rather than fear. Our sadness, angers and fears all have a similar cause. It is that we have become separated from our true nature, which is to be peace, to be love, just as it is our natural expression to be responsible and compassionate leaders. We are very powerful indeed, once we return to our true selves and step through the layers of suffering and conditioning that beset us all in different ways. This is why daily meditation is so important, both for ourselves and the world we live in, for meditation brings the opportunity to come to rest in the heart, and to transform our suffering and the suffering of others.

On the morning of March 23, 1998 one of my meditation students brought the Internet invitation to my attention and invited me to do the meditation with her co-workers at a cappuccino café in Kemptville, a small town 50 miles south of Ottawa. It was a very moving experience, especially the feeling of interconnectedness and the very real sense that our energy made a difference. In my travels throughout Canada and the United States afterwards, I discovered that the same Internet meditation was conducted by countless small groups of very different persuasions and backgrounds all across North America. This combination of electronic and heart communication was astonishing, as is the power of this simple liturgy for peace on earth.

The liturgy can be done at any time. You do not have to wait for a co-ordinated Internet invitation. You can be a self-appointed co-ordinator for the network of people you presently connect to. Then may you and your friends reinforce and recreate the March 23 1998 liturgy.

Opening:

Sit quietly for meditation. Breathe in and out very gently, through the heart center and fill your body with light from the heart. Do this for ten breaths, then begin with this affirmation, said with great power and commitment:  

Chant the universal sound OM (A-U-M) for 5 minutes, or sing the hymn “Amazing Grace”, or a song that can carry the spiritual energy and vibration of the affirmation. This can be done through a single tone or through a chant or song.

Then remain silent for 5 minutes, just breathing in and out with awareness, as you allow your own spirit to receive the light and love which you yourself extended to the world.

Closing:

End with this prayer for peace, say it out loud:

It is done!
I am one with all and all is healed
I accept this for myself and for the world.
I am an Emissary of Light now and always. Amen.

MEDITATION III: INTO THE FUTURE

Now breathe in and out and imagine that you are in your favorite place on the planet, whatever that may be - by a waterfall, shopping in a vegetable market, sitting in an outdoor café, or standing in the silence of a forest. Feel your happiness grow as you breath in and out ten times. (Pause)

Now imagine that you are moving into the future, through the first decade of the new century, then the next decade until you are in the middle of the twenty first century - 2150. You are still in your favorite place. It has not changed much, neither have you - you are just older - a true elder. As you sit there you have the knowing that the crises at the end of the twentieth century have been resolved. There are no more high school murders, world hunger is not there and the institutions that brought devastation and cruelty to the planet have changed. Know also that you and your friends played a major part in this change. (Pause)

As you sit in your favorite place, a young child approaches you. This child comes and stands before you and places her hands together and bows respectfully to you. He has heard about you in legends and songs, about what you and your friends did to turn the world away from disaster. She addresses you respectfully:

Keep your eyes closed and remember this question. It is written down for you and you can refer back to it at the end of the meditation. (Pause) Now the child asks a second question:

Keep your eyes closed and remember this question. Know that it is written down for you. (Pause) The child asks you a final question:

Keep your eyes closed and remember this question. It is already written down for you. (Pause) See that the child is now ready to leave. As she starts to go back to her family, she turns and smiles to you and bows once with her hands clasped before her, very gracefully she bows. And she says:

You watch her go and you feel such gratitude. Tears may come to your eyes. Sit for a while silently in your favorite place, just bring your awareness to your in-breath and out-breath. (Pause)

Now travel back in time from 2150 to the present moment, to where you are now sitting. Take several deep breaths in and out and be here in the present. Open your eyes, pick up your pen and write down your replies to the three questions asked by the little child. Do not edit anything, just write down what arises from inside you. Take your time doing this. If you are doing this meditation in the company of friends, share your writing in small groups of two or three persons. Put the salient points up on a large chart so that the entire company can share everyone’s journey into the future. The chart can then become the focus for further discussion as you realize that all these understandings are already within you.